Wednesday in the Word...John 13:12-20...Brrrrrrr

A funny picture of my wife!  She is bundled up to take Buddy out for his morning constitution.  I keep joking with her that she needs to knit a nose mitt and she would be all set.  Some winter weather has arrived in Maine and it makes us all the more thankful for the warm house He has provided for us while we are here.

Today's Wednesday in the Word is John chapter 13 and verses 12 through 20.

v.12 - So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?"

Jesus has just completed the household task of the lowest of the slaves to clean the feet of those coming into the house.  It was necessary for hygiene and the pleasantry of reclining at a table of food.  No one got up to do this.  They probably all passed by the towel and basin at the door and wondered where the slave was.  It was Jesus who took the lead.  He got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

The conversation with Peter allowed us to see that this act of Jesus was meant to mean more than just clean feet.  Jesus brought in the concept of salvation and forgiveness of sins.  Salvation is the bathing of the whole body that is needed once and for all and is necessary for one to be saved.  Forgiveness of sins is the washing of the feet from time to time and this is also necessary, not for salvation because you have been bathed, but for one who is saved in keeping with God's instructions on what to do with sin.  We are not to come to God's table with dirty feet as a saved person.  We take our dirty feet to Jesus and allow Him to wash those sins away by confessing and repenting.  Now we will enjoy our spot at God's table as saved and daily cleaned by Him.  

Now Jesus is going to let the others in on the meaning behind what He has done for them.

v.13 - "You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am." 

Jesus is our Teacher and Jesus is our Lord.  He is the one who instructs us and He is the one we submit to.  He has the big desk at the front of the classroom facing all the other little desks and we are His subjects (students) all looking back at Him.  Jesus owns both of these titles that have been said to Him by His disciples over and over again.  

v.14 - "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet." 

Here comes a big "therefore."  Therefore, if you call me Lord and you are subject to me and if you call me Teacher and you are listening to apply then do as I say and as I do.  The disciples are not to bath one another because the bathing of a person, salvation, can only be done by Christ, but they are to wash one another's feet.  They are to offer forgiveness for sins amongst themselves.  They need to be willing and take the lead to approach another to perform the task of forgiveness and grace.  

v.15 - "For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you." 

A good teacher will say it twice so Jesus restates it again in verse 15.  This activity was an example for them to follow.  It isn't the actual physical washing of the feet but the actual spiritual washing of forgiveness given to another that is needed.  The action of our Teacher and Lord, Jesus, is to be our action as ones saved by Him.

 

v.16 - "Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him." 

"Truly, truly" means that the next statement is doubly true.  In God's economy, the slave and the master are equal in salvation.  They are also equal in their obedience to what God has said.  This action of forgiveness expressed toward others is for the slave and master.  It is for the one who gets an order and one who gives an order.  

v.17 - "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them." 

Do you want to be blessed by God?  I would assume the answer would be "yes."  If we know that we are to forgive each other because Jesus did the same for us, then we need to follow through on this action to receive the blessings of God.  It makes me think of all the times I have not received the blessings of God because I have not followed Christ's example and washed that fellow Christian brother's feet.  Instead of forgiving sin, I fed it and received more burdens instead of God's blessings.

v.18 - "I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me."

We can't seem to forget about Judas Iscariot.  It seems he is still in the room.  All are not Jesus' students.  There is one who would be giving lip service that Jesus is Teacher and Lord but Jesus knows his heart.  It is hard to understand but Jesus chose the one who would fulfill the Scripture that He would be betrayed.  It would be one of them who would do this and the Scripture would not come up short on this point.  Satan is a "heel biter" via Genesis 3:15 but Jesus is a "head striker."  Judas Iscariot, Satan's tool, is following suit of his real teacher and lord as he lifts his heel against Jesus.

 

v.19 - "From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He." 

I call these near prophecies.  Far prophecies usually deal with events in the far future.  The prophets speaking 1000 years before about a coming Messiah would be giving far prophecies.  Jesus is giving His disciples very near prophecies.  He is laying out what will happen in the next few hours for the purpose of His disciples to recall what He said and believe that He is the Son of God.  The precision of the events, even this one mentioned that is amongst them who would betray Him, was on purpose.  Jesus doesn't have any "throw away" words.

v.20 - "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

Another doubly true statement is coming from Jesus.  Just as we are all equal in salvation in God's economy, we are also to see each other as brothers and sisters of God's larger family.  God is sending out His workers and we are to receive them as sent by God.  They are God's salt and light and ambassadors of Jesus.  Jesus is going to introduce the Gentiles to God's family in the near future.  These non-Jews who were to become Christians needed their feet washed too.  Jesus' disciples would be the examples to follow as this transition happens and they would verify that this is what followers of Christ do.  This is a command from God, the One who sent His own Son, Jesus, who they have received as the risen Messiah.  They will be key to helping the general Jewish Christian community to God's larger flock that included non-Jews who were equal in salvation in every way to them.  

I can't help but think about our responsibility as maturing Christians to display this act of forgiveness to others.  Sometimes it is very hard to do but it is a command God gives us with a blessing attached to it.  Do you know of some blessings that you have not experienced because you have refused to wash someone else's feet?  Are you are sitting at the table waiting for someone else to move when you know it is God's will for you to rise up and head to the towel and basin?  Let's start living in the blessings of God rather than carrying around the burdens of sin that could be resolved with a little soap and water.

Pastor Adam